


Arms Are Open

by sarabeth1



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Reflection, but that's just part of the story, very very mild smut, you know where one partner gets hurt and they admit their feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-30 22:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15760920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarabeth1/pseuds/sarabeth1
Summary: He never would have imagined that the fresh out of Quantico agent he didn't trust would prove to be his salvation and his future.  Donald Ressler reflects on the days, choices and events that led him and Elizabeth Keen to where they are now.  An future AU fic.





	Arms Are Open

**Author's Note:**

  * For [myfortuneandterrorandrapture](https://archiveofourown.org/users/myfortuneandterrorandrapture/gifts).



If you had asked Donald Ressler the day he jumped out of that government issued black S.U.V. in front of Elizabeth Keen’s home, helicopters circling overhead and Tom Keen at her side, that he’d be where he was today he’d say you were crazy. No. First off, he didn’t particularly care for the fresh out of Quantico agent that day. He had spent years chasing Raymond Reddington and suddenly he turns himself in and will only speak to her. How was he supposed to trust that? He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. That was just day one. 

Ressler had lost track of how many days it been since day one. There had been so many important days in their partnership. Their friendship. When Stanley Cornish took her to his cabin and Ressler went with Reddington to confirm with the man who orchestrated it, Lorca. He felt the cold steal of the knife to his throat but it wouldn’t stand in his way. He would find Agent Keen. And find her they did.

When Gina Zanetakos held a knife over her and he had to fire a few shots into her. Then he yelled at her for putting her gun down and letting Frederick Barnes go. When she found out her father was dying of cancer and wasn’t able to get home to be with him. And, then there was the Garrick incursion and ROMEO. He defied a direct order to save her life. And all of this before they were even partners for 6 months. 

She saved him from himself more than he cared to think. When Audrey was killed and he went on a revenge spree she brought him back. When he got addicted to pain pills she helped him recognize there was a problem. Ressler could only hope he had helped her as much as she helped him. But, for as much as he had allowed her to help him she came him to with some stuff but the big things. The really big things she left him in the dark.

She broke his heart. Truly and deeply broke his heart a few times. The first time she faked her death and no one told him. For those moments when he saw the TV and the photo of her body on the ground. Blood around her. His heart stopped. Stomach sank. It was only when he was finally able to access his phone was he able to truly breathe when he found out it wasn’t real. But, the next time when she faked her death after giving birth to Agnes he didn’t know. Seeing her in the back of that van with Reddington and the days following. Her funeral. His heart was broken from all the unsaid. From the what ifs. From the knowledge that she was gone. 

And the last time she broke his heart, it was watching her from the glass window. Blood pooling around her head. On her face. The monitors going off like crazy and the doctor about to drill in to her head. Ressler knew she was a fighter. But, there was only so much a person and their body could take. He willed her to live from his spot there.

And willed her to wake up every day after.

Still, the days continued to pass. He thought of them as just days ticking by. And he wished she knew he was there for. But, some days he was no good to himself so it was better she never came to him for help or guidance or just his friendship like she had in the past. He missed those days like crazy. Not that he'd admit it. He also missed the days where she would just know something was amiss with him. There was a time when she would have known right away he had gotten himself mixed up with Prescott. 

Then again, Prescott was just where his new story began. He had been just finishing up at the office when Liz walked in, her hands stuffed in her jeans pockets with a hint of a smile on her face. The smile he was now always so thankful to see. She looked a bit tense or perhaps unsure. Hesitant? He hated that they had drifted in this sense. He would have know in the past what was going on. Now, it was almost as if she was a stranger.

“Want to get a bite or something?” She leaned against the wall.

He twirled his pen. A bite, huh? She had been in such a hurry most nights to get out of work that he was shocked she wanted to socialize with anyone let alone him. 

“Yeah, sure.”

It started out as a few drinks and burgers and hole in the bar near Ressler’s where they just chatted about little things like their co-workers. Nothing heavy. Until Liz asked the question.

“The friend you were helping that day. When you had the car,” she said in a hushed tone. “I thought you were joking. I was still dealing with my own trauma but I've had time since to look back. The friend was you. All of that was real.” Her eyes were soft.

Cover with sarcasm, Ressler, he silently told himself.

“Yes, Liz. I drove a car to an active crime scene with a dead body in. A scene crawling with police.” His voice was a bit harsh yet he low so as not to be overhead.

“I'm a profiler Ress. I missed the signs when it was happening but I see them now. You have been there for me so many times. More than I can count. More than I deserve. Without fail. Without question.” She placed her hand on his. “I failed you. Talk to me.”

“Reddington talk to you?” Of course that son of a bitch told her what happened. 

At the sound of his name she cringed. “No. And he knows what's going on? I can't imagine you confided in him.” Her eyes widened. “Was he holding something on you and making you do things for him?” 

His stomach dropped. Ressler knew he had to tell her. He would have to see the look of disgust and whatever else she would think of him when the full truth came out. She would finally see him for the man he was. It was time he figured. The mask had to come off at some point. The fear gripped him as he escorted her back to his place to tell his story. 

She sat on one end of the couch. Her back to the arm with a leg tucked under the other. Ressler had his head hanging low with his eyes fixed on the floor as he detailed the whole Prescott story. From Hitchins accidental death down to the final meet with Reddington after Prescott's demise. She never said a word. And when he finished he felt a weight had been lifted.

“Only Cooper and Red know?” She finally spoke.

Ressler still refused to lift his head. “They each know some of it. Red knows more than I think I'm sure.”

They were both silent. He lost track of for how long.

“When I left. After…,” she trailed off. “Something happened Ress.” Liz stood up and moved to sit on the coffee table in front him. “Some bad men found my cabin and I embraced what I thought was who I was meant to be. I needed to get away. And I found ways. They were cruel, Ress. You would be ashamed of me if you knew. I went dark and I didn't care.”

He was finally looking at her. And if he needed to get Prescott off his chest she needed to do this.

“I killed Navarro, Ress. And used Stanley Cornish’s method to hide my crime. I was becoming someone I didn't recognize. I still don't recognize who I am.” She reached out for his hand. “I thought I finally had answers. The only thing I know I can trust in without a doubt is that in all this madness is I have you.”

Her words were buzzing in his head. Cruel. Ashamed. Cornish. What had she been up to? Who had she killed when she ran off after the coma? Just how dark had she gone? He knew her eyes had gone dead long ago and even the mention of her daughter could not bring a spark to them. But for her to end it that way, he wasn't sure what to make of it. 

“I'm always here. You know that.”

“Sometimes, I get too self absorbed that I forget there are others beside myself.” When he tried to say something she shushed him. “We need to be like we used to be, Ress. Starting today, no more secrets. I'm here for you. Always, ok?” 

He chuckled when she pulled her hand away and offered a handshake.

That had been the start of their friendship getting back on track. She kept him the loop on everything. And he the same. The spark in her eye was slowly returning. There was a lot of talk about the future of the task force now that Liz knew the truth about Reddington not being Reddington and trying to find the truth about him with her sister, Jennifer, but they tried not to worry for now. He helped when he could. 

The biggest change was the day Liz and Aram went undercover together. Aram had to hack in to a corporate server and Liz was his back up. The details of the op should not be hazy to him as they went over it and over it but all his mind wanted to focus on looking back was the sound of gunfire and Aram’s frantic voice in his ear through the comms.

It felt like an eternity as he and Samar made their way through with the Tact Team clearing hallways and taking out security as they made their way to the server room. By the sound in Aram's voice he expected a severely injured Keen with a hysterical Aram over her. 

“Shoot him, Aram,” Liz hissed while she struggled to stay upright. She was being held up by a big beefy man in a security guard uniform. 

“I have the files. Let her go and I'll give you the drive,” Aram bargained. 

“Shoot him,” Liz yelled.

She had blood on her leg and gash on her forehead. Ressler and Samar finally made their presence known and stood next to Aram. Upon seeing this Liz smirked and quickly elbowed the guard and dropped to ground.

It happened quickly as shots rang out. The guard fell to the ground beside Liz and Ressler holstered his weapon so he could quickly render aid to Liz. He didn't leave her side. Not once. Not even as she slept. It wasn't until the next day when she was eating breakfast in the hospital when she questioned him.

“I'm not going to die. It wasn't a major leg injury and I’m only being kept due to my past history with head trauma.” She pushed the food tray aside and grabbed the TV remote. “What gives Ress.”

He froze. And then opted to stare up at the television. Her eyes burning holes him in. She dropped it as she settled on a show to watch. Silence filled the room. And then she struck. 

“Hey, can you hand me my water?” She pointed to water glass that was well within her reach. Without even thinking he handed it to her and she smiled. “Thanks, sweetie.”

“No problem, hun.” It just came out of his mouth and hadn't even caught it.

“I feel the same way you know,” she offered. “I mean I hope you feel the same way.”

“What?” He took his eyes off the TV and hoped he was correct in what he heard.

“Remember my birthday dinner years ago. Wing Ye? Had everything not gone to hell.” She took a deep breath. “Ress, I honestly thought that night maybe, just maybe, there was something there. And it was the start of us discovering that. And that night you stayed with me in the jail cell. I felt that same spark. It's always been there. It's never gone away.”

His heart nearly exploded.

“I loved him. I did. But, Ress. Just like I know you will always love Audrey, there's room for something new. Right?”

Dead. He was dead. 

“What are you?” Words, Ressler. Form the words. “Liz, what exactly are you trying to say?”

“You called me hun, you idiot.” She smacked him on the arm. “Don’t make this harder than it is. You haven’t left my side. Everyone sees it. I finally see it. So, I’m going to be the first of the two of us to admit it before one of us dies. For real.”

He knew what she was going to say and there was no way she was going to say it first.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

“You jerk. You said it first!” Liz jokingly yelled. “You couldn’t let the injured one say it first?

“You couldn’t let the one who has been withholding these feelings the longest say it first?” Ressler retorted.

“I think technically, you two said it at the same time and can I just say it’s about damn time!” Samar’s voice came from the doorway. “I’ll come by later to visit because I am obviously not going to interrupt this and there is an office pool that has to be settled now.” Her smile was actually very infectious and Ressler couldn’t help but join when she laughed.

“Office pool? Come on. There is not an office pool on the two of us.” Liz looked between Ressler and Samar.

“We had one on Samar and Aram, so I wouldn’t put it past them.” He shrugged. 

He waited until Samar said a quick hello to Liz and then left before he took a spot on the bed next to her. He felt Liz’s head on his chest. It was the most comforting feeling he had experienced in a very long time. As if it was the most normal and natural thing to do, he lowered his lips to the top of her head and placed a kiss on it. Part of him had these images of confessions of love and then a passionate kiss like in the movies. And if anyone ever found out and confronted him on it he’d deny it. And while knowing what kissing Elizabeth Keen would feel like was on his list of things to, he heard her softly humming and knew she had falling asleep. 

That day they confessed their love was one of terror and one of excitement for things to come. Every day after that was an adventure in getting to truly know each other. And to overcome some hidden resentments and fears that neither truly knew they had until they spent more time together. Like any couple they had their ups and downs. Reddington, they still called him Reddington, continued to give them blacklisters even after Liz outed him and rejected him. 

The time finally came however for the task force to part ways. Liz wanted to just settle down and be normal. Get her daughter back. Ressler wanted to break down doors and was given his own counter-terror task force to lead in New York City. Life was changing. For the better. Definitely for the better.

The sunrise from his beach chair told him of that. The view he left in the rental home confirmed that. And the metal band on his finger reminded him that his life was exactly what he had hoped for. Ressler cupped his coffee mug and dug his toes in the sand. He had lost track of how long he had been sitting reminiscing of how he and Liz ended up in this place.

Last night had been amazing. He made his best friend his wife in a small private ceremony in Hawaii. The only people in attendance were his mother and his brother and Cooper, Samar, Aram and Liz’s and now his daughter Agnes. He also was confident that even though he wasn’t invited Reddington was somewhere in the background.

The ceremony and dinner afterwards was great but it was the night with Liz in the private house they rented for the week that was truly spectacular. Liz decided her first step as Elizabeth Ressler was to go skinny dipping with her husband on their private beach. Skinny dipping under the Hawaiin night sky, the water dripping off their bodies as their hands explored one another soon lead to more.

Ressler had to stop her when she suggested they just make love on the beach.

“Liz,” he tried to reason. “Sand and naked bodies are not exactly a good match.”

“Where is your excitement?” She leaned in for a kiss then bit his lower lip instead.

“Excitement?” Ressler growled as he reached for her. She ran from him and towards the house. “Get back here woman. I’ll show you excitement!”

He caught up to her just as she neared the patio of the home and grabbed her by the waist. You could see all the stars if you looked up and he wanted Liz to have that view. He placed her gently down on the outdoor chaise lounge and placed a rough kiss on her lips before trailing what could have seemed like a million more down the length of her body before reaching her toes. Ressler put his hand under her thighs and with a quick and sudden movement pulled her down the lounge a bit and positioned her.

He heard her breath catch and smiled as he kissed her inner thigh. Oh, the things I’m going to do to you Mrs. Ressler, he thought to himself. Thankfully, there weren’t any houses nearby he kissed his way up the spot he knew would drive her mad. He would bring her to her breaking point and pull her back just before release. He would do that a few times and smile every time she cursed his name.

“Ress,” she moaned as she arched her back.

He slowly kissed his way up to her face. “You think maybe now that I’m your husband you might want to call me Don? Donnie? Donald?” He pulled a strand of hair out of her eyes as she struggled to control her breath.

“Do you think now that I’m your wife you are going to let me go, Ress?” she managed as she grabbed him and pulled him down on top of her.

Well, he knew what she wanted. He chuckled and now he was the one with the view of the stars as Liz took over. He let her continue to have control over this moment until they came as one. They fell asleep under the stars and woke up around 1 am. Just in time to start all over but this time in the bedroom and Ressler took complete control. Both were spent after two sessions of that.

He wasn’t even sure how he was up right now. Watching the sun come up. He knew he should be getting up and making Liz breakfast soon but for now, reflection was good for his soul. And a moment away from the woman who swore the whole day would be spend making love. He needed rest.

He heard movement behind him then soft hands run through his hair. Her perfume hit him and felt at ease. She was awake.

“I can’t imagine something more beautiful,” she said pointed to the sunrise.

Ressler just stared at Liz knowing he was looking at something just as beautiful. 

“I know we haven’t been here long, Ress. But, I really don’t want to leave here.”

“Liz, we can skinny dip at my brother’s lake house and have sex anywhere you know that right?” Ressler reached his hand out for hers. She stood next to him looking amazing as always in his button up top. He pulled her into lap.  
She stole a sip of coffee. “One, I will not skinny dip at your brother’s lake house. And second, there is just something about this place. Maybe you can get transferred to the FBI office here? And I can just get a private sector job.”

“One thing at a time Liz. Let’s enjoy our honeymoon. We’ve gone through so much to get here.” Ressler leaned in for kiss. “Now, where were we last night?” He asked as he began to unbutton her shirt to the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach in front of them.

The end


End file.
